Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe Reminisced About 'Cruel Intentions' With Their Kids

Witherspoon played a virginal high-schooler who falls victim to Phillippe’s nefarious plans in ‘Cruel Intentions’

Some kids have photo albums packed with memories of their parents’ younger days; the children of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe have Cruel Intentions. Witherspoon and Phillippe were married for eight years, and their relationship was still new when they filmed the steamy teen drama in 1998. While promoting separate films in New York City this month, Phillippe and Witherspoon took a walk down memory lane with their children Ava, 15, and Deacon, 10.

“We got to meet up as a family and took a walk through Central Park with the kids,” Phillippe told HuffPo Live, “and it was funny — we were reminiscing then because we shot a lot of Cruel Intentions [there], so there we were, with Ava and Deacon talking, and they were tripping out on the fact that we were there shooting a movie before they were even a thought in our minds.”

The 1999 film is an unusual piece of family history, to say the least. A remake of Dangerous Liaisons set as a high-school drama, Cruel Intentions stars Phillippe as a wealthy teenager who tries to seduce Reese Witherspoon’s character to win a bet with his stepsister (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar). The film was racy enough to give Witherspoon pause, even though she and Phillippe were already together. “I literally got down on my knees and begged her: ‘Please, it’ll be 15 days, you’ll be great,’” writer-director Roger Kumble told Cosmopolitan.com. “And Reese was like, ‘I’ll do it. But we need to work on the character.’ I’m like, ‘Anything, anything, anything.’ She wanted to strengthen the character, and she was right… And I’m very grateful to her for that.”

Related: Reese Witherspoon on the Difficulties of Going ‘Wild’ and the Coming Reese-surgence

Cruel Intentions has obviously been on Witherspoon’s mind lately, too. For her Throwback Thursday selection on Instagram, the actress chose this picture (below) of herself, Phillippe, and Gellar, which she captioned “Ahh the 90s…”

Witherspoon and Phillippe married in 1999 — just weeks after the theatrical premiere of Cruel Intentions — and were divorced in 2007. Though their split was difficult – Phillippe, who was rumored to be cheating with Abbie Cornish, called it “the worst time in my life” – the ex-couple has overcome their differences and reached an amicable co-parenting arrangement. “It’s going well, and she’s happy and remarried, and our kids are incredible,” says Phillippe. “I’m proud of the way we’ve handled it and who our little people are.”

Photo credits: @Everett Collection. @Getty Images, @Instagram